Saturday 30 April 2011

BREAKING THE INERTIA OF STAGNACY


ARISING AND MOVING FORWARD

The Christian experience is designed to be a journey, an adventure into divinity, a pursuit of godliness, a press into perfection from the elementary and human dimension. The Christian life is far from been a series of attendance of endless meeting that brings no re-configuration of our content, character and lifestyle. It is a call to an exciting world of daily growth, transformation and maturity.
To press into maturity as instructed by the inspired words of Hebrew 6:1, we are advised to leave the elementary principles and press into perfection. This is call to get dissatisfied with our spiritual status which portrays glaring limitations. This is not a call to abandon truths which stand for ever but to grow in the level of understanding and become mature and grown up in our perception of things. It is a call to leave the realm of mixture into the pure realm of God where we see things from the eye view of God having been anointed with eye salve of the spirit which allows a clear 360% degree perception.
Leaving a comfort zone of understanding does not come easy to man as it confronts the pride of the natural man and the foolish presumption of the religious mind that  wallows in the “we know all” deception  contrary to the truth of the scriptures that we only know in “PARTS” and that we  have not pass “ this way before”. The reality that assists lovers of truth and sincere men is that we are as free as the degree of truth that we know. The bondages  evident in our lives reminds us that we are yet to apprehend enough revealed truth necessary to become the liberated sons of God which we are called to be experientially and not just legally.
Isaac Newton’s first law of motion is as true in the physical as it is true in the spiritual, everybody continues in a state of rest or uniform motion unless it is displaced by an opposing forces. The forces of truth of God’s word is what is needed to break the evil inertia of negative  religious, social and cultural yokes  that holds man captive. Many times, friends and colleagues were found to have applied extra application of words of encouragement or rebuke to wake us up or align us in a direction of truth we ordinarily would not want to go until our eyes popped open.
A man pre-occupied with the present leaving no room to think of the future is trapped and this represent the condition of the most present day earth dwellers and believers whose thoughts are limited to “what shall we eat and drink” or like David, the number and the size of our churches or the people that we rule over.
God’s ultimate plan is to express himself fully in the tabernacle call “MAN” and to achieve this, he has instituted a seven day program of transformation described by the seven feast and the seven days of creation. Each day releases a daily deposit of divine substance, the daily bread represents the truth that takes man higher in the process of   becoming like him until “we all come to the measure of the stature of Christ”.
It behooves of us therefore to hunger for our daily bread or word of revelation from God whereby we may continually receive, digest and progress in our journey towards maturity.
It is in from this place we receive strength and energy to arise and move forward, it is from this place of revelation we become empowered with the light and direction, creativity and courage to adjust, leave what should be left behind and move in the right direction. Failure in the place of dieting and feeding on daily bread brings paralysis and hinder us from moving forward. It will take personal individual effort to desire the sincere milk and meat of the world and not just a collective bandwagon operation of religious programs and nothing is too important to deny us of this GREAT opportunity and privilege of a daily communion at the Lord’s table where his truth is exchanged for our foolishness. 
Breaking the hold of habits, routines and thought pattern will be realized by a resolve on our part to appropriate the sufficient grace of God available in the proceeding word of God to escape the inertia of our present circumstances and situation. We must remember that man shall leave not by physical bread alone but by the fresh and daily manna from the very presence of God.
Servants of God who therefore bring words from God’s heart must desire to receive fresh and hot words to men and men must not be satisfied until they have lay hold individually of their daily allocation through meditation as we know that it is in the place of meditation that the   juice of revelation is assimilated.
The practical application of the truths of God in our daily lives will bring some pain to us but consistency and readiness to move forward is what we need to sustain ourselves through the pain and ascend to higher realms of rest.
Moving from the Pentecostal dimension into the greater feast of God requires humility. Those who will lead the move will be sincere and willing to make painful adjustment. Move forward for beyond you lies new realms of liberty, new heights of glory and victory, new depths of love, joy, peace and power and in the word of Achilles, the Great Greek warrior as he charged his soldiers to confront Troy, I will say beyond you lies (immortality) life everlasting, Press on in this path of life looking not to the left or right.
Scripture references::Hebrew 6:1,   2 Peter 1:19, Proverb 4:11,   Psalm 16:11


Wednesday 27 April 2011

A CALL TO UNITY


There is a trumpet sounding in the heavens for all who has ears. There is a call to come up hither; there is a mandate of heaven coming upon those who desire to experience the fullness of God. It is a call to align with the spirit of truth, a call to align with the will of God, and consequently with his body, our brethren. 

This place of unity and concord is Zion. This realm of harmony and oneness with God and his body is Zion. This is a dimension described by Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:13   as “ The unity of Faith” . This is the place of maturity we are called to dwell.  This is the atmosphere we are called to operate in. This is Zion position.

David in Psalm 133:1 having seen the glory afar off called us to BEHOLD and experience this position of UNITY  with our brethren  . He described it as  “ The Excellence, Perfection and the Ultimate of Beauty  and it is my prayer that we will all access this dimension of unspeakable glory and Joy. It is a lifestyle better than all other dwelling places of Jacob ( i.e individualism, )

Let us now briefly consider the beauties of Zion.

Ø Goodness and Pleasantness- Operating in the unity of Faith and in the bond of peace is a pleasure of God that we must satisfy and this in turn brings satisfaction, Joy, manifestation of the goodness of God and his pleasantness among his people. Goodness and mercies will abound ceaselessly in the lives of those who dwell in this region. This is our destination as member of the body of Christ. We are to locate our position and function in harmony in the spirit of Christ with the brethren without any inferiority or superiority complex realizing that we are members of one another and that the body grows by that which every joint supply.


Ø The transforming anointing of grace and power. Babylon is characterized by selfish agenda and purposes which in turn breeds strife, irreconcilable misunderstanding and differences, confusion and every evil work. This spirit which is infiltrating and penetrating the lives of believers in an attempt to suffocate them out of God’s presence must be overthrown out of our lives so that we may enjoy the transforming power of his presence.  Those who desire to see lives changed into the nature of God must attract his presence and glory by keeping our hearts in committed love and unity in spite of  doctrinal differences, personal needs, class or weaknesses of other believers  and as we embrace the spirit of love and unity, the weakest will become strong  because, the transforming anointing of God permeates everywhere traveling from the head to the skirt

Ø The blessing- Like the dew of Hermon coming ceaselessly upon mount Zion, Constant refreshing abounds where there is harmony. The road to abundant blessing, victorious Christian living and ever-increasing access to the resources of heaven reserved in Christ for us is to remain “ Connected “ to life that flows in the corporate body of Christ through Continuous forgiveness of those who offend us , letting go of past hurts  thereby ridding our lives of subtle and hidden bitterness which is destructive .There is a corporate warfare to which we are all involved   Ephesians 6;12  says  “ We wrestle…against  “   ) and we become invincible and victorious in this war as we allow the interflow of grace, power, gifts and love among us. Indeed, we are as strong as the strongest link which is Christ Jesus when we are operating in true unity.


Ø Life evermore- The abundant life that will swallow death in victory flows through  the corporate body of Christ and until we come to that place where we operate as a “Perfect Man” where honor is given to the weak parts and our joints are oiled by love, respect, humility, acceptance of our brethren and  intercessory prayer, certain victories will continue to elude us and certain blessings will continue to be beyond our reach. The days of one man show is going and the day of “ The corporate Christ has come. The days of the rod of Shamgar as a one-man instrument of national deliverance is given way to the days of Joshua where the priests bears the ark in corporate formation to access the miracle of crossing the Jordan river and also to bring  down the Jericho principalities. Brethren, we must endeavor to keep the unity of faith in the bond of peace

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Psalm 133:1-3


We must march forward to Zion. There, we enjoy true fellowship and the blessing of God becomes mandatory on his people evermore. Hereunder is an excerpt from one of the bible commentaries (Treasury of David) on the true spirit of unity:

1. Despises not the little ones, i.e.  The mean, poor, and less gifted.

 a) Recognizes that God is the Father, and Christ is the Redeemer of all believers alike.

b) Acknowledges oneness of faith as the true basis of fellowship; not wealth, social position or talent.

c) Believes that the least member is essential to the completeness of Christ's body.

d) Realizes that everything which renders one in any way superior to another is the gift of God.


2. Distributes of its abundance to the needy: Ac 4:32-37.

a) The wealthy to the poor: 1Jo 3:17.

b) The learned to the ignorant.

c) The joyful to the sorrowing.

d) The steadfast to the erring: Jas 5:19.


3. Displays its value more by loving generosity, than by a conspicuous appearance before the world. As Hermon was more valuable to Zion for its dew than for its adornment of the landscape.

a) A generous activity exhibits and requires more real grace than showy architecture or ornate worship does.

b) Through it, godliness flourishes more than by a vaunted respectability. Zion was fertilized by the dew, not by the grandeur of Hermon.

c) By it the heart of Christ is touched and his reward secured

LIFE IN CHRIST

C hristians are called to carry the presence of God like Jesus Christ. We are in union with Christ. When the mystery of our union is fully e...